Holy Angels brings a rose to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Knights of Columbus from the San Pedro Calungsod Assembly and the Maria Regina Assembly are seen Aug. 23 at Holy Angels Parish with a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a silver rose to honor her. The Knights sponsor eight roses made from Mexican silver that travel to parishes across the country in anticipation of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12. (Photo by Colleen Hera)

September 13, 2018 Nicholas Wolfram Smith

Holy Angels Parish in Colma celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe a few months early this year. On Aug. 23, more than 100 people gathered to celebrate a half-century devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary called the Running of the Rose.

The devotion, started in Mexico in 1960 by the youth division of the Knights of Columbus, recalls the roses that fell from the tilma of St. Juan Diego when he went to convince his bishop that Mary had appeared to him in 1531 outside of Mexico City. The devotion quickly spread throughout North America, and the Knights now sponsor eight roses made from Mexican silver that travel to parishes across the country in anticipation of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.

At the start of the 5:45 p.m. Mass, Knight Ted Cordano brought the rose forward and placed it in front of a larger than life statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The bilingual Mass split readings between Spanish and English, and featured several hymns to Mary. At the end of Mass, Father Manuel Estrada led the congregation in reciting an act of consecration to Mary. The closing hymn was one of the most famous songs to honor Mary, “La Guadalupana,” and ended the Mass on a joyful note as everyone clapped and sang along.

Cordano, a member of Knights’ Holy Angels Council 10948, told Catholic San Francisco he was grateful the event had brought the whole parish together.

“Everyone is drawn to celebrating Our Lady,” he said. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, he said, but has a special meaning for many of the Latino families in the parish.

“Every Latin culture holds her in great regard,” John Jimenez said.

The affection for “la Virgen de Guadalupe” appears in the nicknames for her, Jimenez said, like “La Morenita” (“little brown lady,”) and “blanca paloma” (“white dove”). Jimenez said it was hard to overstate how important her apparition was to the people of North and Central America. “Guadalupe opened up Christianity to Indians,” he said.

Jimenez said he had not heard about the “Running of the Rose” before being asked to do the first reading for the Thursday Mass. But, he said, “it’s a beautiful thing. I hope it would come again. I know I’ll come home and tell people about it.”

Wallace Moore, another Knight who attended the Mass, told Catholic San Francisco the Virgin of Guadalupe drew people because of her miracles, but also because she cares about and prays for her children. “She’s a mother to all of us, and I appreciate the opportunity to celebrate early,” he said.

“Anything for Our Lady,” said Moore. “That’s how it is.”

Maria Gonzalez, who sang with the choir, told Catholic San Francisco that she appreciated how celebrating Our Lady “brought the parish together.”

“We really need a strong faith community to handle all the problems in the world right now,” she said.